What goes into hosting a ResellingDO

There is a lot of time that goes into selecting venues, working agreements, finding awesome presenters, and don’t forget the catering. All of these aspects take great care and effort, so that we can put on quality events like ResellingDO3, and NapaDO. But the hardest part is the leap of faith one must take to sign a contract for $6,500 (or more) for an event, without having a single ticket sold. Setting that ticket price is also rather tough. Unfortunately, shutting down a brewery is not the cheapest endeavor. So I needed to factor in that I needed to spend at least $6,500 (not including tips for the staff), so I established that in order for the event to be break even, at the $149 we set the ticket price at, we needed at least 43 attendees.

As of 29 July when I finally called it, we had sold 8 tickets.

To put it differently, as of 29 July, when I had to make the decision on the contract (they do give us a brief window to pull out), I stood to lose around $5,000, hosting this event.

What happens to those 8 folks that bought tickets?

We have refunded those tickets already. I’ll try to go a little further for those 8 folks, because they were committed to attending, some making the purchase the first day tickets went on sale.

ResellingDO’s going forward

As for the future of ResellingDO. Putting on events takes a significant amount of time and to put on quality events such as my wife and I strive to do, they also cost a bunch. Further, we’ve never had sponsors because I’ve always wanted to ensure that we have the freedom of what we present. Going forward, I will still coordinate events but we will limit it to the Mile High Reselling Club (MHRC) primarily, which will help us properly gauge scale of interest, and essentially the scale of the event.

Wrapping Up

It was very hard for me personally to come to terms with the decision to cancel this ResellingDO. Going into it, I had thought this event was going to be the largest we’ve had, given the great interest we saw in a beginner level event. We chose to go back to a venue that has treated us well and that we had received great feedback on from past events. What this all leads me to believe, is that this type of an event may no longer be the best approach. I’m not quite sure what is the best approach, but I’ll keep trying things to see what works, because I really strongly believe that face to face networking and conversation is what builds this community the best.

When we announced NapaDO in March, many asked for a #ResellingDO for Beginners. I have heard your call, and have stepped things up. The next ResellingDO event will return to Jailbreak Brewery in Laurel, MD, and we’re taking over the entire tap room over on Saturday, 15 September!

For those that attended ResellingDO 3, you might have a bit of a surprise, because since that event, Jailbreak has added in a restaurant!

#ResellingDO For Beginners – The Details:

When: Saturday, September 15th, 2018

What: A full day of networking, presentations on credit cards, Merch by Amazon, Online and Retail Arbitrage

ResellingDO Highlights

We’ve locked in some excellent speakers for this #ResellingDO for Beginners!

Ed Pizzarello

Haley Bach

Joey Redmond

and I’ll also be giving a presentation.

We’ll cover a handful of core topics for reselling, specifically, retail and online arbitrage, Merch by Amazon, and mile and point maximization for all that legitimate spend you are making.

And for those of you who’ve been reselling for a while – it’s still a great opportunity to come, network with folks, and I’m sure you’ll pick up at least a few new tips. If not, did I mention there’s good beer?

We attempted to break the mold–yet again–with NapaDO. We kind’ve broke the mold with the first few ResellingDO’s. That said the Merryvale winery, that is graciously working with us to make this the most amazing ResellingDO event so far, requires that we lock in attendee numbers a week early. I can’t fault them. Everyone needs to plan.

Why should you attend NapaDO?

If you have a reselling business, this is probably a no brainer. If you’re in the miles and points game and you have a reselling business, this might be the event for you. If you’re a casual travel hacker, well, I’m going to be honest, it’s probably not the event for you. All that said, I think it’s important to highlight the type of value you will get from this event.

When I plan events like these, the first thing I ask myself, is: What are my blind spots? What am I not smart enough on? Then I bounce those ideas off of friends and mentors–people that are experts in their fields–and we come up with a plan. This event is a perfect example of that. My friends, we have an amazing cadre of speakers, as I’ve shared before.

Here is a recap:

Matt (aka @Saverocity) talks about why he is excited about NapaDO, His presentation will provide you insight into how you can leverage the new tax laws to increase your tax deductions. He says it’s likely worth an additional 5-6 figure deduction in 2018! As if that wasn’t enough:

Joey (aka @joeyredmond) will get you smart on Tactical Arbitrage. If you’re not familiar with Tactical Arbitrage, it is one of the gold standards for Online Arbitrage. Also, this is a great opportunity to see how you can further leverage one of my favorite reselling cards, the AT&T Access More.

Geoff (aka @Alpen_Geoff) will show you how to do Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping. He’ll show you how you can use Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping to increase profit, and not go crazy doing it! This will be even more important as Amazon raised FBA fees on 22 February.

Of course, Amazon released some interesting numbers in their recent February notes. That got me thinking. Typically our March events are for fairly experienced folks. Looking at the attendees, I’d say you’re talking about a pretty significant percentage of folks that are in that 140,000 of sellers with greater than $100,000 annual sales.

Bottom line: If you want to network with folks that are doing significant numbers on Amazon, you need to be at NapaDO.

NapaDO Information:

The event will definitely be one not to miss. It’s clearly exclusive, and we’ll be incorporating a true Napa experience.

When: Saturday, March 17th, 2018

What: A full day of networking, presentations on more advanced reselling topics.

I’ve been putting on ResellingDO reselling events for years. On average, we do 2 events per year. #NapaDO is the latest of those events, but I find some of the feedback I’ve received privately rather interesting. Since the first ResellingDO I’ve been uber conscious on cost. The event series started out as an idea to get resellers together and, as Hawaiians say: “Talk Story”. It has grown to so much more. It has supercharged so many folks’ reselling businesses that I’ve lost count.

Supercharge your reselling business with #NapaDO!

Full disclosure: Our March events are generally for more advanced resellers. We focus on more entry level to intermediate topics in the second event of the year. That said, We will have speakers that are veritable experts in their fields.

Matt (aka @Saverocity) talks about why he is excited about NapaDO, His presentation will provide you insight into how you can leverage the new tax laws to increase your tax deductions. He says its likely worth an additional 5-6 figure deduction in 2018! As if that wasn’t enough:

Joey (aka @joeyredmond) will get you smart on Tactical Arbitrage. If you’re not familiar with Tactical Arbitrage, it is one of the gold standards for Online Arbitrage. This is a great opportunity to see how you can further leverage one of my favorite reselling cards, the AT&T Access More.

Geoff (aka @Alpen_Geoff) will show you how to do Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping. He’ll show you how you can use Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping to increase profit, and not go crazy doing it! This will be even more important as Amazon raises FBA fees on 22 February.

Why Napa?

A few folks have reached out to me privately and asked why Napa? Answer: From the start, I have been focused on providing attendees unique experiences. The first ResellingDO was held at a brewery and included a tour of that brewery. Each successive event has been held in a unique location. The fact is, Napa is pricier than previous locations for ResellingDO’s. But, it offers us a very unique opportunity. We’ll be enjoying presentations in a winery with excellent wine–I should know, I had the opportunity to taste those same wines just two weeks ago. You’ll get a tour of the Merryvale winery and you’ll get to taste their wonderful wines, too.

The Details:

When: Saturday, March 17th, 2018

What: A full day of networking, presentations on more advanced reselling topics.

Its hard to put a value on networking

Perhaps the biggest focus on ResellingDO events is networking. Generally that networking includes alcohol–but it is of course optional. We ensure that there is at least a few opportunities for networking. This event will be no different. However I really wanted to include something unique. In the evening networking, I’d like to include an unconference style lighting talk series, for any attendees that have something they’d like to share. We might even have a bottle of wine for folks that feel emboldened to share their expertise with the group.

Because we’ll be in Napa, we’ll be meeting for a half day of presentations at the Merryvale winery. We’ll follow that up with a wine tasting before heading across the street to Gott’s Napafor lunch. Since we’ll be doing a wine tasting, and in Napa, we’ll hop on a bus back to the Westin Napa (rather than having to drive).

We’ve locked in some excellent speakers, including 2 that have not spoken at previous ResellingDO events, so we’ll definitely have fresh material and fresh insights to learn from!

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Travel:

Travel Caching – a Tim Ferriss concept similar to Jason Bourne; I’d love to do this, but I find I don’t travel to the same places nearly enough to justify it.

ResellingDO 5 Speakers

We have an excellent line-up of speakers, as well!

Hans: Hans loves to travel and take photos, flying at least 100k miles every year. In 2011 he leveraged a SkyMall deal to earn 1 million Delta miles by buying $40k worth of cameras and reselling them. That opened his eyes to the possibility and he went into business with a fellow FlyerTalker who he had become friends with. That business that he co-founded now sells more than $5m in electronics every year on Amazon and eBay, and is poised for big further growth with some key foundations having been laid in the past year. Hans made a number of mistakes in scaling up that caused a lot of stress and headaches. He’ll share those mistakes and offer advice on how to avoid making those same mistakes in the scaling up process.

Haley: Haley’s a reseller of merchandise as well as an expert in Merch by Amazon, having done rather significant growth in Merch by Amazon over the past year – if you’ve been approved for Merch by Amazon but are not sure what the next step is, this will be one to definitely attend! If you haven’t applied for a Merch by Amazon account, there is still time, do it now!

Kenny : Will highlight local Retail Arbitrage sourcing away from the big-box stores in cities both big and small, small-town sourcing, and selling strategies for replenishables.

Geoff: Scaling up means focusing on many different aspects; one of the ways you can realize near immediate savings is shipping product via pallets whenever possible. Geoff will give a primer on Less than Truck Load (LTL) shipping and how it can save you shipping costs.

After a successful smaller ResellingDOse in Las Vegas, we’re putting together a bigger event–but capped to 65 attendees–the first ever at a hotel! Its a bit of a break from restaurants and breweries, but, I like to keep changing things up.

ResellingDO 5 takes on Orlando

That’s right folks, you read that right, we’re leaving the Baltimore, MD area for the second ResellingDO in a row, this time heading down to the sourcing treasure trove that is Orlando! Here are the details:

When: Saturday, August 12th, 2017

What: A full day of networking, presentations on reselling covering topics such as scaling, Merch by Amazon, and niche sourcing.

We’ll of course be enjoying lunch and the hallmark of ResellingDO’s, an evening reception.

As we get closer that we’ll also be looking to include “no-host” meet-ups on Friday evening, and as is typical, groups usually form for dinner after the event.

Also of note, we’ve arranged for a $99 rate at the host hotel, the Hyatt Place Orlando Airport, and, if you’d rather use points, its only 5,000 points per night!

Reselling DO 5 Speakers

I’m very excited to announce that we will have at least three speakers that have never spoken at a previous ResellingDO event. All three bring an enormous amount of experience in the space.

Hans Mast – Lessons Learned from Scaling Up

Haley Bach – Merch by Amazon

Kenny Burrows – Small Town Sourcing

If you’re not sure what you’ll get from ResellingDO 5, here are some thoughts from ResellingDO 3 to give you an idea. Overall, there is excellent value with the people you meet, the networking, as well as with the awesome line-up of speakers that we have. Perhaps I’m a bit biased, but I think this is going to be the best event yet!

We’re changing up the model for the next ResellingDO in honor of the ASD Market Show in Las Vegas. We’re calling it: ResellingDO Special Edition (ResellingDOse). Tickets are on sale now, and there are only a few left.

ResellingDO Special Edition Details

Like past ResellingDO’s, we’re going to have speakers, and keep the attendance fairly limited. More specifically, this ResellingDO is going to be focused on preparing for a particular event. ASD Market Week. Like ResellingDO 3, where we focused on preparing for Q4, our vision for ResellingDOse is that we’ll have a half day to network, 2-3 presentations / panel, and of course, food and drinks. We’ll keep attendance small, in fact, it will be less than the first ResellingDO.

About ASD Market Week

ASD Market Week is focused on linking retailers / resellers with wholesalers. This is an opportunity for resellers to talk to wholesalers who would normally not give us the time of day. There will be wholesalers from many markets, including grocery, general merchandise, consumer goods, and others.

Not for everyone

I realize that wholesale is not for everyone. Most of us got into this with Online Arbitrage or Retail Arbitrage. Wholesale requires more logistics, potentially even a footprint, and some cash flow. It requires you to go deeper into products, think 100-1,000 units vs 10-20. But it can also open up doors for you. Especially following Amazon’s latest changes for gating, having an in with a wholesaler can open doors not otherwise available.

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